Glossary of Terms Air Permeability
Glossary of Terms Air Permeability
Glossary of Terms Air Permeability
Air Permeability
Commonly referred to as "porosity" it is the ease with which pressurized air can flow through a paper's
thickness. Typically measure by the Gurley or the Sheffield porosity tests, which measure the volumetric flow of
air through the paper thickness.
Burst Strength
The resistance of paper to rupture as measured by the hydrostatic pressure required to burst it when a
uniformly distributed and increasing pressure is applied to one of its side.
Burst Index (kPa m2/g) = Burst Strength (kPa) / Basis Weight (g/m 2)
Coarseness
The weight of the fibre wall material per unit length of fibre.
Contacts/fibre
Contacts/fiber means the average number of crossings between a fibre and others in the fibre network.
Fibre Length
The average contour length of all measured fibres in a given sample of pulp. This measurement can be
presented as the Length Weighted, Weight Weighted or Arithmetic Average fibre length.
Standard Units: mm
Fibre Shape
Fibre Curl Index is the ratio of actual fiber length to the distance between the 2 fiber ends minus 1. It gives in
indication of the continuous curvature of the fibers greater than 0.5 mm in length and within the selected range
limits.
Fibre Kink Index is the sum of the number of kinks (an abrupt change in fiber curvature) within a range of kink
angles divided by the total fiber length of all the fibers.
Mean Kink Angle is the average of all the kink angles greater than 20 degrees, divided by the total number of
detected kinks.
Fines
A measure of the portion of fibers which are shorter than a specified length, typically less than 0.2 mm.
Standard Units: %
Folding Endurance
The ability of paper to withstand repeated folding while held under tension before it severs at the crease.
Fracture Mechanics
Fracture toughness describes the ability of the material to resist the propagation of a pre-existing crack. It is
often determined as critical stress intensity factor, or sometimes referred to as tenacity. Fracture toughness
equals the geometric mean of fracture energy and elastic modulus.
Fracture energy means the critical energy release rate, where the pre-existing crack starts to propagate with an
infinitesimal increment of applied tension when the energy release rate reaches.
Freeness / Wetness
Terms used to define how quickly or slowly water is drained from the pulp. The opposite of freeness is
slowness. Freeness or slowness is a function of degree of beating or refining on pulp.
Standard Units:
Kappa Number
Kappa number is a measure of lignin content in the pulp. The kappa number is the volume (in milliliters) of 0.1N
potassium permanganate solution consumed by one gram of moisture-free pulp under the conditions specified
in this method. The results are corrected to 50% consumption of the permanganate added.
Reinforcement Potential
The main use of softwood kraft pulps is to strengthen weaker paper-making furnishes without significantly
impairing other end-use properties. This function is referred to as reinforcement.
Reinforcement potential is a complex pulp property and measurement usually involves consideration of the
grade of paper to be reinforced. Currently there is no generally accepted single method for measuring
reinforcement potential that applies to all paper grades.
For LWC grades, one commonly accepted definition is that reinforcement potential is proportional to the
average fiber length and tear strength at 70 Nm/g tensile index and inversely proportional to fiber coarseness.
For SC papers the reinforcement potential has been theorized to be described simply by the ratio of fibre length
to coarseness.
Stretch
A measure of the maximum tensile strain developed in the sample strip before rupture.
The stretch or percentage elongation is expressed as a percentage.
Standard Units: %
T.E.A.
The work done when a paper specimen is stressed to rupture in tension under prescribed conditions as
measured by the integral of tensile strength over the range of tensile strain from 0 to maximum. T.E.A is highly
dependant on maximum tensile strength and sheet stretch.
Standard Units:
Tear Resistance: mN
Tear index (mN m2/g) = Tearing Resistance (mN) / Basis Weight (g/m 2)